Posted on 12/02/2002 12:42:19 PM PST by Shermy
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A decorative menagerie of presidential pets will fill the White House for Christmas in a holiday-theme reunion that provides a reminder of the comfort they have given in troubled times.
First lady Laura Bush said on Monday she chose to highlight presidential pets and wild birds in the White House holiday decorations because they had been a source of amusement and comfort since last year's attacks on the United States.
"We picked animals just because there is a very interesting story about all the different animals that have lived in the White House ... but also because our animals have been a great source of comfort to us ... since Sept. 11, 2001," Bush said.
"They are a great amusement and distraction but also they make the White House home for us," she said.
Bush spoke after the White House Christmas tree -- an 18 1/2 foot Noble fir from Elma, Washington -- arrived at the presidential residence in a traditional horse-drawn wagon.
The tree will be decorated with representations of more than 400 birds from across the United States.
Decorations throughout the executive mansion will include papier-mache depictions of the presidential pets, including Macaroni, a horse belonging to John Kennedy's daughter, Caroline, and of Calvin Coolidge's pet raccoons, which he used to walk on a leash.
Also featured will be Millie, which was owned by former first Lady Barbara Bush, President Bush (news - web sites)'s mother.
Millie is the mother of the current president's dog Spot, the first pet to live in the White House under two administrations.
Other White House pets have included a pony, Algonquin, belonging to Theodore Roosevelt's son Archie, and Nelson, a horse owned by the first president, George Washington.
The Presidential Pet Museum Internet site (www.presidentialpetmuseum.com) lists a virtual zoo, including parrots, a billy goat, an alligator, bald eagles, guinea pigs and a badger.
There will also be depictions of sheep, which grazed the White House lawn to keep it trimmed during a World War One staff shortage.
Talk about a total lack of sophistication!
;)
Talk about a total lack of sophistication!
Yes, I remember the Klinton's XMas Tree as well from Gary Aldridge's Unlimited Access. I recall they also had an ornament with "Eleven 'Aroused' Lords O' Leapin" and a Rush Limbaugh ornament that would have been like holding TNT if they put it on the tree.
Which one is the dog?
They'll have a Roadkill Cafe T-Shirt in memory of Buddy...
Woodrow Wilson's sheep graze on the South Lawn, 1918.
I'd say that's a lot better than Hillary's tree with the condoms and crack pipes!
Thank God the adults are back in charge.
Peter Pan, terrior
Paul Pry, Airedale, originally named Laddie Buck
Rob Roy, white collie, origially named Oshkosh
Prudence Prim, white collie
Calamity Jane, Shetland sheepdog
Tiny Tim, chow
Blackberry, chow
Ruby Rough, brown collie
Boston Beans, bulldog
King Kole, police dog
Bessie, yellow collie
Palo Alto, bird dog
Nip and Tuck, canaries
Snowflake, white canary
Old Bill, thrush
Enoch, goose
Mockingbird belonging to Mrs. Grace Coolidge
Tiger, alley cat
Blacky, cat
Rebecca and Horace, racoons
Ebenezer, donkey
Smokey, bobcat
Also: lion cubs, wallaby, pigmy hippo, bear
Bleistein, Roosevelt’s favorite horse
Renown, Roswell, Rusty, Jocko, Root, Grey, Dawn, Wyoming, and Yangenka, all horses
General and Judge, carriage horses
Algonquin, Archie Roosevelt’s calico pony
Pete, bull terrior
Sailor Boy, Chesapeake retriever
Jack, Kermit Roosevelt’s terrier
Skip, a mongrel
Manchu, Alice Roosevelt’s spaniel
Emily Spinach, Alice Roosevelt’s snake
Snakes belonging to Quentin Roosevelt
Tom Quartz, cat
Slippers, cat
Josiah, badger
Dewey Senior, Dewey Junior, Bob Evans, Bishop Doan, and Father O’Grady, all guinea pigs
Also: lion, hyena, wildcat, coyote, five bears, two parrots, zebra, barn owl, snakes, lizards, rats, roosters, racoon
President Eisenhower had a Weimaraner, Heidi, late in his administration.
Partly because of that fact, Weimaraners had a burst of popularity in the late 1950s and early 60s, and received a good deal of publicity as the next "super breed" capable of incredible (and exaggerated) feats of strength, intelligence, and demeanor; there were photo spreads on the breed in Look magazine, and maybe Life as well. My parents, a very young couple at the time, bought one at about that time. As the publicity faded, the Weimaraner boom gradually ebbed, not to be rekindled until photographer William Wegman gave them another shot of fame. But our family never dropped the Weimaraner habit; including my parents, siblings, and myself, we've had at least a dozen of the critters since 1959, including two as of now.
Good thing Eisenhower didn't have a llama or a porcupine.
Liberty, the Gerald Ford family dog guarding the White House.
Friends are Golden.
But, with motherhood imminent, we were afraid she'd [Liberty] deliver at night, so we moved her inside, and for a short while she slept on the third floor with a trainer. One night the trainer had to be away, and he left Liberty with us. "If she wants to go out," he said, "she'll come and lick your face."
About three o'clock in the morning, she came and licked Jerry's [President Ford] face. Like a good daddy, he got up, pulled on a robe and slippers, took the dog downstairs and out onto the south lawn. When they were ready to come back, Jerry rang for the elevator. But at night the elevator goes off - You have to get it charged up or something. Secret Service agents are in a room in the basement (they have a mirror and closed-circuit TV and there are lights all over the grounds), and usually they notice anything that moves, so I still don't understand how they missed the scene with the odd couple. Maybe somebody dozed off.
Anyway, Jerry decided to try the stairs. He opened the door to the stairwell, said, "Come on, Liberty," and up they climbed to the second floor, Liberty waddling from side to side, her stomach with nine puppies in it practically hanging on the ground. They got to the second floor, and the door to the hall was locked. You can get out, but you can't get back in. They went up again, to the third floor. Also locked. And there they were, a President and his dog, wandering around in a stairwell in the wee small hours of the morning, not able to get back to bed. Finally they came all the way down again, and by that time the Secret Service had been alerted, and somebody got the elevator started.
(My kind of dog too!
(from President Ford's memoir A Time to Heal (Harper & Row, 1979), pp. 192-193)
… our family didn't have a dog when we moved into the White House. Susan [the Fords' daughter] and David [Kennerly, the White House photographer] thought that situation should be rectified before Betty [Mrs. Ford] came home from the hospital.
Without telling me his intention, David did some research and discovered that a fine retriever had recently given birth to a litter in Minneapolis. David called the kennel's owner and said he wanted to buy a puppy for a friend of his.
That was fine, the owner said, but what was the name of David's friend?
David said it was a surprise; he wanted to keep the name secret.
"We don't sell dogs that way," the owner replied. "We have to know if the dog is going to a good home. "
"The couple is friendly," David said. "They're middle-aged, and they live in a white house with a big yard and a fence around it. It's a lovely place."
"Do they own or rent?" the owner asked.
David thought for a minutes "I guess you might call It public housing," he said.
The owner said the dog was healthy; she was going to eat a lot. Did his friend have a steady job? David could play the game no longer. He hinted that his friend was a very important person and finally the owner agreed to fly the dog to Washington. I was in the Oval Office the day before Betty came back from the hospital when Susan walked in. "Daddy," she asked, "if we ever get another dog, what kind are we going to get?"
"A female golden retriever about six months old," I said.
At that moment, David entered with a copper-colored pup who raced around the Oval Office yelping excitedly. "Whose dog is that?" I asked.
"It's yours." Susan and David laughed. "Her name was Streaker, but we've changed it to Liberty."
Delighted, I grabbed the pup, put her on my lap, then got down on my hands and knees and played with her on the rug. That was a joyous experience, and I knew that Betty would be just as thrilled as I was to welcome the new addition to our family
It shows an oil painting by Zhen-Huan Lu depicting the Grand Foyer of the White House with a 1938 Steinway Piano.
Inside is a quote from the scripture , Psalm 100:5.
"For the Lord is Good; His Mercy is Everlasting;
And His Truth Endureth To All Generations."
May love and peace, fill your heart and home during this holiday season and throughtout the New Year:
LOL. A friend of mine just adopted the most beautiful Weimaraner from the Humane Society. Can you believe someone would give one up? "Not enough time," was the excuse!
Isn't it grand to have a God loving and god fearing family in the White House!
"This parrot is deceased!"
"No senor, he is just pining for the arroyos."
With apologies to M. Python
Current First Dogs
I suspect the spelling is more off-putting than the pronunciation. As is obvious, the breed takes its name from the city of Weimar, which in Germany is pronounced VIE-mar. In Germany, and throughout most of Europe, the pronunciation of the breed is (approximately) VIE-mah-rah-ner; in the U.S., it has been Anglicized into WHY-mah-rah-ner. Either way, four easy syllables, emphasis on the first; but the spelling seems to spook people.
They are indeed beautiful animals (in my biased opinion), but very stubborn and demanding; pleasant to be around, as long as they get their way. I've been owned by several.
God Save America (Please)
If my experience is any guide, it takes tousands of shots and miles of film to capture that scene! I'm still trying with my Golden Retriever and have been knocked on my rear more than once as he charges right into me as I try to catch him in the viewfinder and click at just the right moment.
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